Chemical microreactor and method thereof
First Claim
1. A method for forming a chemical microreactor comprising:
- forming at least one capillary microchannel within a substrate having at least one inlet and at least one outlet, forming at least one porous membrane, imbedding the porous membrane with at least one catalyst material, integrating at least one heater into the chemical microreactor, interfacing the capillary microchannel with a liquid chemical reservoir at the inlet of the capillary microchannel, interfacing the capillary microchannel with the porous membrane at the outlet of the capillary microchannel, such that gas flow moves in a horizontal direction from the inlet through the microchannel and moves in a vertical direction from the microchannel through the outlet.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a chemical microreactor that provides a means to generate hydrogen fuel from liquid sources such as ammonia, methanol, and butane through steam reforming processes when mixed with an appropriate amount of water. The microreactor contains capillary microchannels with integrated resistive heaters to facilitate the occurrence of catalytic steam reforming reactions. Two distinct embodiment styles are discussed. One embodiment style employs a packed catalyst capillary microchannel and at least one porous membrane. Another embodiment style employs a porous membrane with a large surface area or a porous membrane support structure containing a plurality of porous membranes having a large surface area in the aggregate, i.e., greater than about 1 m2/cm3. Various methods to form packed catalyst capillary microchannels, porous membranes and porous membrane support structures are also disclosed.
120 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for forming a chemical microreactor comprising:
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forming at least one capillary microchannel within a substrate having at least one inlet and at least one outlet, forming at least one porous membrane, imbedding the porous membrane with at least one catalyst material, integrating at least one heater into the chemical microreactor, interfacing the capillary microchannel with a liquid chemical reservoir at the inlet of the capillary microchannel, interfacing the capillary microchannel with the porous membrane at the outlet of the capillary microchannel, such that gas flow moves in a horizontal direction from the inlet through the microchannel and moves in a vertical direction from the microchannel through the outlet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification